MORGANTOWN — WVU men’s basketball coach Bob Huggins received a public reprimand Feb. 22 from the Big 12, for his comments on officiating after the Mountaineers’ loss to Kansas five days earlier.

The Jayhawks beat the Mountaineers, 77-69, in a game that saw Kansas come back from a 58-46 deficit with 10:20 remaining.

Kansas attempted 35 free throws in the game; WVU attempted only two.

“I’m going to tell you what: There’s something wrong to do that to kids who are playing their hearts out,” Huggins said during a postgame talk that also saw him ask why referees are not made accessible to questions from the media following games.

During the Big 12 media call Thursday, Huggins said his best course of action was to remain silent on the situation. “I’m not going to say anything from now on.”

It’s the second reprimand handed down to the WVU program this season. WVU forward Wes Harris also received one after WVU’s loss against Texas Tech, on Jan. 13.

SHORTHANDED CYCLONES

Iowa State’s traveling party for Saturday’s 6 p.m. game against the No. 21 Mountaineers (20-8, 9-6 Big 12) will be a small one.

Already missing junior point guard Nick Weiler-Babb for the season with a knee injury, Iowa State head coach Steve Prohm said the Cyclones will also be without guard Donovan Jackson, who will be attending the funeral of his father, Donald.

“His father was his biggest fan,” Prohm said. “They had a special relationship. The funeral is Saturday morning, so he won’t be making the trip to Morgantown. He’ll get back to campus late Sunday night.”

This week, Prohm announced sophomore forward Solomon Young will miss the rest of the season. He had knee surgery Tuesday.

Young had 14 points and 10 rebounds against WVU when Iowa State rolled to a 93-77 victory, on Jan. 31.

Iowa State dressed only seven players Wednesday for its 89-83 loss to TCU.

With the loss of Jackson, Iowa State is expected to dress only six against the Mountaineers.

“We don’t have a lot of bodies,” Prohm said. “We won’t do a whole lot. We’ll watch film and lift weights and shoot. With our guys, we’ll go over our press attack and how we want to do a good job of defending them.

“The biggest thing for us is to stay out of foul trouble, because we’re probably only going to have six guys out there.”

ACADEMIC HONORS

Jevon Carter and Chase Harler were named to the all-Big 12 Academic first team, while teammates James Bolden and Logan Routt were named to the second team.

It was Carter’s third such academic honor, while Bolden was named for a second consecutive season.

First-team members maintained a 3.20 or better GPA while the second team selections hold a 3.00 to 3.19 GPA.

Carter was also named to the CoSIDA academic all-district first team.

He was one of five honorees for District 2 (there are eight districts in all) and is eligible for the CoSIDA academic all-American team, which will be named next month.

The Dominion Post Comment PolicyThe Dominion Post encourages readers to engage in conversations about site content, but we expect those comments to stay on topic and be civil. We reserve the right to review all comments for appropriateness and restrict comments as needed.